Hey, It's Jade!

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Our homeschool group took a field trip on Friday morning to the Country Critters Farm and Pumpkin Patch in Alvarado. The kids had a blast! Thankfully, Preston and Callen were super cooperative and well behaved! I almost couldn't believe how well it went... I was definitely happy about that! They had tons of stuff to do out there... petting zoo, playground, pumpkin patch (got to bring home two pumpkins!), storytime & snacks, bounce houses, hayride, train ride, a walk-thru maze and more! The weather was absolutely perfect for something like that too... it was 45-degrees when we got up and going! It warmed up a bit but not too much, it was lovely! Definitely a good time!

Thursday morning Jill and I took the boys out to the Dallas Arboretum. It was beautiful, though a bit on the warm side for the end of October and there were a million school kids/church groups/etc running around, making it quite difficult to really see much. The kids got to run around, and we got some good pictures of 'em.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Several months ago I bought a swing for Callen on clearance at Wal*Mart (was even cheaper than tagged when I checked out!) - one that we could add to Preston's swingset. I wasn't sure if I'd give the swing to Callen for Christmas or birthday, not that he would know either way. I was thinking Christmas made sense since the swingset was Preston's Christmas present last year... but his birthday is in March and it'd be Spring and would get to use it more than winter. But, it doesn't matter now 'cause I gave it to him on Thursday instead. It was such a lovely day! We were outside on the back deck watching Preston play on the slide and swings and I was holding Callen... and just thought "What the heck! He won't know anyway." Michael attached the new swing and Callen LOVED it!!! So fun! Merry Christmas/Happy Birthday, buddy!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

This morning, after we were done with our lessons, I was sitting on the couch feeding Callen when I looked over and saw Preston sitting in the floor of the kitchen, messing around with his school stuff. Normally, I don't let him play or drag out school stuff when we're not doing school. But, he was being good, just looking at books... and being quiet, which is rare these days, so I let him be. The sunlight was streaming in around him and he just looked so sweet. I had to quickly and quietly lay the baby down (he had fallen asleep), grab my camera and sneak a few photos. I got a couple before he caught me and turned silly.

Looking through his books.

He was sitting in the chair, counting... he got to 47 before I was busted!

He tried to hide. Haha.

School is still going really well. He enjoys it and is good through it most of the time. It's when 'class' is over that the attitude and fussiness erupts. I dunno what's going on... still testing limits and trying to figure out where he fits in maybe? He seems to think he's in charge and calls the shots... and when that gets shut down, he throws tantrums.

But, anyway... school is going well. Today we were discussing wholes, 1/2's, 1/3's and 1/4's. We used measuring cups and filled 'em with water to test the differences. I also had several round pumpkin cut-outs (one cut in half, one cut in thirds, etc). He seemed to get it just fine. He usually seems to get it just fine, then later in the day you ask him what he learned or anything specific and he goes blank. BUT, today when I was out, he told Michael that 3/4's of our family were home... so I'm thinking he totally got it! Haha. That's my smarty pants!

Some other recent stuff we've done is gone over colors in Spanish, weather (we are making a weather chart, so each day we observe the weather outside and record it), reading clocks and time, various reading and writing activities in the workbooks we have and more. We've also been using a Sonlight video series called My Passport to India... and twice a week we watch a 5-minute video about a guy visiting India. It's been really interesting to learn all kinds of things about India... how they live, what they believe, what God is doing there, and Preston has been so excited about it. I'm not sure how much he's really getting out of it, 'cause it might be a bit over his head, but he likes to watch it and answer questions about it. And he's collected money to help send some Indian kids to Children's Bible Club. Funny story about that...

After we watched the first video, Preston was gung-ho about collecting money to help the Indian kids. We had explained to him that we could look for loose change around, and maybe ask people if they had any spare change they could donate. We went to have dinner with my family and as soon as we got in the restaurant and around my family, Preston blurted out "Does anyone have any loose change?!?!" They all laughed, thinking he wanted it for the gumball machine. He got kinda frustrated because he wasn't sure how to explain why he wanted it, but (with some help from me and Michael) managed to tell everyone about the kids in India and how he could help them to learn about Jesus. He collected quite a few bucks from them that evening!

So, yeah, homeschool is still going really well...happy to be able to report that! I'm looking forward to spending more time and getting more out of our Homeschool Group too. We are going with them this Friday to a pumpkin patch/animal farm in Alvarado... so that should be fun. Should being the magic word (see previous post).

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

It was a beautiful day on Sunday, so when Michael woke up we ran over to the little pumpkin patch at a local church. These fun activities always go so much better in my head than they actually do in real life. Preston was rather uncooperative. And whiny. And grumpy. And bossy. And... well, you get the idea. I got some cute pictures, but we were ALL grumpy within about five minutes and left with just a few little, baby pumpkins.

We ended up getting our big pumpkin at Aldi. Ha! We carved it into a Jack O'Lantern on Monday evening. Preston enjoyed getting his hands all gooey, unlike previous years where he wanted nothing to do with it because it was icky. Callen sat in his highchair and watched as Daddy did most of the work, with Preston helping a little and mostly just giving the orders. It turned out pretty cute.

I attempted to toast the pumpkin seeds two different ways (first with just salt, then with sugar and pumpkin pie spice)... but neither turned out very tasty. The Halloween Cookie Pizza that Preston and I made on Sunday was a much better treat!

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Parenthood... you give me new hope in TV. Oh my goodness, I love this show! It's funny, it's dramatic, it's very true to life most of the time. The cast is amazing... the characters are all great. I love 'em all.

I recently read that Parenthood is not doing very well in the ratings though. Soooo sad! Please don't cancel it, pretty please? I know I don't watch it when it's actually on., I have a feeling most people don't these days.. real parenthood doesn't allow for TV time! We have to wait till the kids go to bed to watch it online... don't punish us parents for that!

Friday, October 22, 2010

Wow. Just wow. I don't think anyone saw this coming a few months ago. I mean, we root for the Rangers, we love those guys, we hope they can do well... but going to the World Series? It's just not an option... until now! It's time... that's for sure!

Drowning Josh Hamilton with Ginger Ale!

The Texas Rangers have been through so much this year... the controversies surrounding Ron Washington's drug and Josh Hamilton's alcohol problems. Nearly being auctioned off because of bankruptcy. It's been a mess of a season for them behind the scenes, but not out on the field! These guys handled all of it with grace, forgiveness and respect. The best thing about this team is that they act like a team. No one is the 'star,' no one is more important than anyone else... they play together.

Happy guys!

And you can tell they really care for each other, they have fun and enjoy what they're doing! I mean, what other group of grown men would go around making silly antler signals and claw swipes in public like that?

Rawr!

This is what baseball should look like. I am so excited for the Texas Rangers. Can't wait to see what next week brings in THE WORLD SERIES!!!!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

My UPS man and I are becoming good friends. I know that he has twin daughters that are seniors in high school and are on the drill team. Ok... that's about all I know about him. He knows that I have two kids, one being a baby who is almost always in my arms when I answer the door, making it difficult for me to sign for my packages. Once, soon after Callen was born, I put a sign on the door that read "Do not ring doorbell. Baby sleeping!" I'm sure he assumed I meant Callen, but... I really meant Michael. Whatever, it works. He gave me a stack of slips and said if I knew a package was coming I could just leave that on the door for him and he wouldn't even have to bother me at all, would just leave the package on the porch. He honks as he's pulling up so that I have time to get to the door to greet him as he's walking up (or he waits patiently for me to get to the door) without knocking or ringing the bell. Plus, he has to see me in my over-sized sloppy shirt and pj pants, hair all crazy every which way (because I usually look like that till around 4pm)... and he never even looks surprised or frightened. What a swell guy!

That swell guy is always bringing me silly stuff that I order online for practically nothing, boxes full of products I'm supposed to try out and promote, or silly prizes I win from various outlets... but today he brought me something that wasn't so much silly as it was AWESOME. He brought me a flat envelope, which I thought was pretty weird, 'cause usually he brings me large boxes! I opened it to find a check from Kellogg's for $250! Whoa!

I was one of 3,000 grand prize winners of the Frosted Mini Wheats School Year Resolution Sweepstakes. FINALLY, I won cash! Add that to my 24 pairs of Ranger tickets, 'Going The Distance '(movie) prize pack, a Xeko pet for Preston, coupons and tiny random things.... oh, and my 24 bags of Strawberry Milano cookies that still haven't arrived! Yes, a check for actual money that we can put towards bills... now THATS what I like to see from my UPS man! Granted, he's just the messenger... it's still hard not to give him a little bit of credit.

Mostly, thank you, Jesus, for this unexpected but very much needed gift! The time I spend filling out those lame sweepstakes entries, playing the silly games with Preston hoping to win some prize or another, giving out my email and phone number to hundreds of companies and then sorting through the junk emails I get thereafter... TOTALLY WORTH IT! :::doing a happy dance:::

And actually, I heard today that the Milanos should be arriving via FedEx, so... it's time to make myself a new friend! =)

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

I was provided with a review copy of The Seven Minute Difference: Small Steps to Big Changes, written by Allyson Lewis, along with the brand new 7 Minute Life Daily Planner, however the views expressed here are my own. To be honest, I wasn't exactly thrilled about reading and writing about this book. It looked somewhat boring. The book is mostly written for business professionals, which I am not. I am a homemaker with an extremely part-time job (as in I probably "work" 6 days a year or so). I wasn't sure I'd be able to get much out it.

The book is mostly for working people... it talks a lot about the little (and big) things you can do to improve customer service and growing your business. But the basic idea it presents is useful to anyone and everyone. We often wish we were better at something, spent more time doing this or that, had accomplished some goal or another... but life gets in the way, we lose track of our goals and our dreams. This book offers ways to prioritize and accomplish those goals... no matter how big or small they are. The main idea is to take action! Don't just sit around and wish you did... Do it! Write out your goals, the big ones, the small ones, all of them, even the mundane ones. Then take a few minutes (or seven) each day to keep moving forward till you've reached the finish line!

It seems so basic. Why would I need to read a book for this? But we are so busy in our day-to-day lives that we rarely take the time to think about what we want, let alone actually attempt it. This book has tips, suggestions, practical guidelines and applications to get you moving to your goal. Whether that goal is business related or keeping the house clean and the kids fed without pulling out your hair. Most of what's written can be customized to your own, personal needs.

The book, The Seven Minute Difference, was published in 2006... what's new is the daily planner, which releases on Friday of this week! This planner is set up to work along with the book and beyond. It gets you focused on what's important each day so that you can make the most of it, not get bogged down in picking up the dry cleaning or running the kids from soccer practice to piano lessons. The point of the planner is to get you to prioritize, organize and simplify your life... business and personal, so that you meet your goals and accomplish what you set out to. It offers areas to track your progress...whether it's your life goals, financial goals, something work related or to-do lists for home, as well as monthly calendars and daily sheets.

If you are interested in checking this book and planner out, you can find more information here. OR...I would love to share my copy with anyone who thinks they might like to start making some "small steps to big changes." That's right, I'm giving the set away! [To enter, post a comment on this blog letting me know what type of changes you would like to make, along with your email address. I will pick a winner on the evening of Friday, October 22nd. Winner will be announced here and emailed for further instructions. If one person enters, that person wins... if more enter, I will use random.org to pick a winner from the comments.]

x

Thank you to everyone that entered!
Congratulations to Kathryn!
She will be receiving the Seven Minute Difference book and Daily Planner!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Yesterday, he woke up and tried to get tickets to the Rangers playoff game. He was a few seconds shy of getting some good ones. But instead of moping around or even trying to go to someone's house that has cable (and leaving us for hours), he decided to make it a productive day instead - I'm sure it helped that it was a gorgeous Fall day out there!

I've been kind of wanting an extra freezer for the garage to be able to store stockpiles and pre-made dinners, since our fridge/freezer inside doesn't have much extra space. I have been reading a book about cutting grocery costs (review coming soon) and they reaffirmed how handy it would be. I told Michael my idea and on Friday I pulled up Craigslist and did a quick search. There were a lot in the area that had been posted for the weekend, all different sizes, shapes and prices. Michael suggested I look up how much new ones cost so I'd have a better idea of what I was dealing with (good idea, always a smart thing to do!). After doing a bit of research at various store websites, I went back to Craigslist and a new listing had just been posted for two FREE upright freezers, just had to come get 'em (the listing said they were old and the outside didn't look very nice - not a big deal!). Well, nothing sounds better than free, that way if it doesn't work out... we haven't lost anything. Michael and his dad ran out to Red Oak and picked up the freezer and brought it back. It was still on when they got there, so when it arrived at home we had to let it defrost (had giant chunks of ice on each shelf). Anyway, that was all Friday.

Yesterday (the day I'm bragging about), since he couldn't go to the Ranger game or see the game on tv, Michael took his walkman radio and his guitar amp out to the garage and set it up so that he could listen to the game! Brilliant! He then set to cleaning that freezer out! I game out when the kids were napping and helped a little, but he did most of the work. He even repaired a few cracks and helped the front door not be so warped. After all the work, the freezer looked great! It has a few rusty places, most of what looked bad, or that I thought was rust, was really just dirt and is gone! We turned it on and it got cold (woo hoo! yeah, we were a little worried it wouldn't work again after being on it's side in transit)! I can't wait to find CHEAP ways to fill that sucker up!

The front cleaned up very nicely!

Inside is clean... and big!

After all that work, Michael washed the car by hand and set to building me a shelf for the closet! We recently sold a rollaway bed that had been in the back of our closet since we moved here (7 years ago!). We used it as a sort of shelf, so once it was gone, the closet was emptier but still a mess! Michael said he could easily build me a shelf with stuff he had in the garage. And he was right! Great job, honey! Now the games have a shelf again! Woo hoo!

Yeah, still messy but wayyyy better with the extra shelf!

He worked on other stuff too, I either don't even know about or have forgotten (sorry, dear!), but he did a great job of staying busy yesterday and getting stuff done - most of it for MEEEE! I am a lucky girl.

Friday, October 15, 2010

We were driving out to the ranch this past weekend, and we passed a billboard like this one:

Preston's comment: "That sign had a picture of George Bush and it said 'Miss me yet?' And I said 'Yes, I miss Bush being president.'" Michael and I just turned and looked at each other. Whoa! Going 70mph down the highway, Preston was able to read the billboard, KNOW who was on it and understand what it meant!

x

We are taking this week off of school because we're on vacation (or Stay-cation as Preston will tell you, since we're home all week). On Wednesday, he got up and came into the kitchen and looked at his school stuff.

Preston: Mommy, I wish our Stay-cation was over already!
Me: Why?
Preston: I wannnnnaaaa do schoool. I misssss it!

It would be nice if that feeling stuck around through the next 12 years of school. Haha!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Michael got up early yesterday to continue our vacation by going out to the State Fair of Texas! We had a great time, and tried some delicious fried foods: Fried Fritos Chili Pie & Deep Fried S'mores Pop Tart. We also enjoyed watching The Killdares again! I took Preston up front to dance, and they dedicated a song to the "little Rangers fan up front!" (he was wearing a Rangers hat). Haha! Michael and Preston rode the log ride and we watched the dog stunt show. The weather was nice, and Callen actually stayed awake through almost all of it!

Monday, October 11, 2010

Michael had accrued some vacation time and we have been in desperate need of just 'getting away' together as a family for a while. However, financially, we were in no position to be able to spend money to do that. But God is good! I have a friend, Mrs. V., I got to know through the station that has mentioned many times over the years that we should come out to their ranch and spend a few days just 'hunkering down,' as she likes to put it. The V. Family ended up having lots to do that weekend, but still let us come out and be a giant nuisance anyway... they were sooooo sweet!

We stayed in the guest house on their 1,000 acre ranch! Mrs. V. cooked for us many delicious meals and treats, and she made me a cup (or two) of amazing coffee each morning, which we enjoyed out on the back patio overlooking the fields. They allowed us to roam about their property, driving the mule (vehicle thingee) all over the place, and their home (home theater, game room, etc). It was exactly what we needed! Just to be away from every day life, chillin', being with each other, playing, having fun, getting outside in the beautiful weather. The boys had a great time... Preston and Michael went swimming twice in the extremely cold pool, and we got to use the hot tub (Callen got in too - we kept the temperature just warm for him). Michael and Preston attempted to fish. We got to watch a couple of the Rangers play off games and just lounge around. It was just awesome! Such a huge, refreshing blessing for us!

Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. V., for letting us come out and be in your way all weekend! I'm sorry for the extra stress we put on you guys, but it was absolutely wonderful for us! Haha! Thank you for sharing your home with us and feeding us and giving us a chance to 'hunker down' for a while. Also, please pass along our thank you to your daughter and son-in-law for letting us get in their way too!

And a giant thank you to Jesus, for putting awesome, generous people in our lives... helping us to connect with people in the good times and the bad!

Thursday, October 7, 2010

My mom and I took Preston and Callen to the Fort Worth Zoo for Homeschool Day! The weather was perfect (got just a bit warm in the direct sun) and we got to see lots of fun animals and stuff. Of course, when we got home, Preston couldn't remember anything we did or saw to tell his dad about. Haha, figures.

Monday, October 4, 2010

So, I realized on Friday that we had been at this Kindergarten thing for four weeks already. It's gone pretty well... as far as I can tell. See what I did there? Yeah, this morning we were working on rhyming words... it kinda stuck. Anyway, I gave Preston a bit of a review on Friday afternoon to see if what we had talked about over the past four weeks had stuck at all. I was a little nervous 'cause sometimes he forgets what we talked about within a few hours (like can't tell Daddy what we did or answer questions about it), so I was kind of wondering if we needed to go over everything AGAIN! But, to my surprise, Preston pretty much nailed everything I threw at him during the review. There were a few things he couldn't recall or stumbled over, but overall... I think he's getting it. I have been doubting myself a lot because I don't have "teaching experience" and I have been just flying by the seat of my pants for the most part. I feel like I'm skipping around, when there should be some sort of order to it. But... I dunno, we're having fun and he's getting it. So, I guess we're good.

We always start the day with reading from his Childrens' Bible and we've been learning the 10 Commandments. He's got 1-5 down pretty well.

I have to really get after him when it comes to writing... he doesn't enjoy that much. He tends to write several letters and numbers backwards unless he's really focusing or looking at an example. He knows them all, and he can certainly read 'em all (and books, and signs and pretty much ANYTHING!), but he doesn't enjoy writing so he I can tell he doesn't want to put effort into it. I try to do fun things so he doesn't just hate that subject, but starting out I'm sure he thinks it's boring just to be going over capital and lower case letters. Hopefully from now on, I can make it more exciting and he'll be more interested. We read lots of books from his collection, and various magazines. He knows how to tell you how many syllables are in a word too.

As for math, we spent time going over how to write the numbers for the first few weeks 'cause he just kept doing most of them backwards. But I think he has them down for the most part. I moved him on to patterns, then measurements, including with a ruler, time and temperature. He surprised me by picking up on telling time really well... he can't count by 5 just yet, but on the clock we made as a craft he can tell me exact what time it is and knows how to write out the time in numbers. He's also got his days of the week down, and we're working on months.

We trade off Science and Social Studies, working on one or the other each day. We've gone over the 7 continents and the two oceans closest to us. He's got his directions (N, S, E, W) down pretty well on a map, and has memorized his address (including zip code). We've talked about seasons and weather. And we spent a week on the 5 senses, doing all kinds of fun activities for each one.

Some other things we've been doing is learning the alphabet and numbers in Sign Language, and he's got those down pretty well, give or take a few signs. We've been working on numbers and colors in Spanish. We've done several art projects, and talked about some musical things like beats, rhythm and musical instruments.

It seems like we've covered a lot in those four weeks, but it's also felt very sporadic. I'd like to give myself a better long-term plan, but end up just kind of coming up with what we're gonna do for the week on Sunday evening. It's not that bad 'cause at least we can be flexible and it's not the end of the world if we get off a little 'cause I don't have to rearrange the whole month. I do have an outline of "things your kindergartner should know" so I feel like we're on the right track, at least. And we're having a good time. There have been a few whiny days, a few days were Callen wasn't cooperative at all to let us work, but there have been a lot more times when things have gone super easy and fun, so I'm definitely thankful for that! I'm proud to say that most days the TV never even gets turned on, woo hoo!

Friday, October 1, 2010

If you've known me for very long, you know my obsession with Fall. I LOVE FALL! I practically count down the days until its here... especially since it comes after our ridiculous Texas Summers (yuckkkk!). I love the weather, I love the smells, I love the tastes... basically just everything about Fall. We've had a few days of cooler weather over the past few weeks, but I cannot wait till even the 80's are out of the picture! Today I am on the verge of being slightly giddy because it's October 1st and all things Fall are coming out of the woodworks!

- It was 65degrees this morning when we woke up... we did our Bible reading on the back deck!

- Last nite, as I was shopping for groceries, I saw Coffee Mate Pumpkin Spice was available AND on sale - heck yes, my coffee was amazing this morning!

Pumpkin Spice & Peppermint Mocha = heaven!

- I got the giant tub of Fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving decor out of the closet (granted it was heavier than I expected and I dropped the whole tub off the top shelf down on to the junk below, thankfully it was soft junk and nothing was destroyed, whew!). I put out all the fun things out that are covered in pumpkins and leaves - and my favorite wooden sign that reads "A Harvest of Blessings." There's just something about seeing that sign every year that makes me so darn happy!

- Preston and I shared a delicious, juicy Honeycrisp apple after lunch... those things are amazing (and only available around this time of year)!

Nomz!

- And this has nothing to do with Fall really, but the Fedex guy dropped off my brand new SmartPower Blender (which I received for FREE from the Hipster Group, OMG, thank you!). I was so excited to take that stuff out of the box, wash it and puree the rest of the apple Preston and I were in the middle of sharing to make baby food for Callen. Oh man, so amazing!

Fall decor & my new blender/chopper = Yay!

- I'm also giddy because this time next week, Michael, me and the boys will be on our way to a ranch for a weekend vacation. I am so excited to have a little getaway, especially at this time of the year. It cannot come soon enough!